News - Soap Buzz

More good news out of Prospect Park today, that once again illustrates to any naysayers out there, that PP’s partners, Jeff Kwatinetz and Rich Frank have a very huge and innovative venture on their hands and they are ramping up to play big time!

In a press release that went out this afternoon, Prospect Park named technology pioneer and former Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of VeriSign Inc, Stratton Scalvos, as partner and a key member of the executive team of the company’s new online platform. The new online venture will feature original content that the company will produce and deliver including All My Children and One Life to Live as well as other episodic programming to consumers via online formats and additional emerging platforms including internet enabled television sets.

Check out the press release in full after the jump. so you can get a taste of where this emerging leader in Internet programming and convergence is headed!

“Radar Partners’ Stratton Sclavos is joining the new television online network formed by Jeff Kwatinetz and Rich Frank’s Prospect Park, the management, media and production company that recently forged a multi-year, multi-platform licensing agreement with Disney/ABC Domestic Television Group to continue production of All My Children and One Life to Live after the ABC run ends.

Sclavos was formerly Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of VeriSign Inc. where he started as one of its first employees in 1995 and led the company as it grew into an international corporation with over 4,000 professionals and $1.6 billion in revenues. Under his leadership, VeriSign became a Fortune 1000 and S&P 500 company listed on the NASDAQ market. In his new role as a partner, executive and board member, Sclavos will advise the network on technology, infrastructure and overall content delivery. Azure Capital’s Mike Kwatinetz, who was also named to the network’s board, will provide the company with comprehensive strategic guidance.

“With a best in class team, proprietary programming and an opportunity to reshape the television landscape, I could not be more excited to be joining Jeff and Rich in their new venture,” said Sclavos who will also continue with his responsibilities at Radar Partners. “I believe that we have the breakthrough formula for delivering the first online channel for high quality, first-run, long form content.”

“Stratton has a deep understanding of the complicated opportunities and challenges facing content companies in this digital age. He shares with us a common commitment and vision to not only deliver audiences great content anytime and anywhere, but to truly transform the entertainment landscape using the ease of technology to tell and deliver stories to people around the world,” said Jeff Kwatinetz and Rich Frank.

Through its new online network, Prospect Park will produce and deliver the two long-running soap operas as well as other episodic programming to consumers via online formats and additional emerging platforms including internet enabled television sets.

During Sclavos’ time at VeriSign, the company built and operated a global infrastructure supporting Internet addressing, e-commerce and telecommunications services. On a daily basis VeriSign systems enabled over 25 billion interactions for consumers and businesses and the company’s infrastructure delivered a new standard for scalability and quality performing at 100% availability for over a decade.

In November 2007, Sclavos retired from VeriSign and joined Radar Partners, a private investment firm with interests in public and private equity, venture capital, natural resources and real estate. He also holds an ownership stake in Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVSE), the parent company of the San Jose Sharks professional hockey team. SVSE is a diversified corporation with ownership interests in professional and minor league hockey and other entertainment assets. He has also been privileged to serve on several Presidential advisory committees including the NSTAC and PCAST. Sclavos currently sits on the boards of Salesforce.com and Juniper Networks and also acts as a Senior Advisor to the Director of National Intelligence.

New Board Member Mike Kwatinetz said, “I have been fortunate enough to have been involved with some of the biggest disruptive companies of the past two decades. I believe Prospect Park’s new online venture is going to be added to the list as its combination of team, properties and strategy changes the landscape for television and the web.”

Mike Kwatinetz is a founding General Partner with Azure Capital Partners, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm with over $650 million under management, where he specializes in software, media and related web properties. His current board memberships are BlogHer, Cooking.com, Education.com, Knowledge Adventure, Medsphere, Rooftop Comedy, and Open Road, the first venture-backed eBook publisher led by the former CEO of Harper Collins. He also served on the boards of The Firm, Woodbury Computer Associates (acquired by JWP), Bill Me Later (acquired by eBay in largest VC tech outcome in 2008), TopTier (acquired by SAP in largest VC-backed software outcome in 2001), TripIt (acquired by Concur), and Wildseed (acquired by AOL). Other representative investments include VMware (acquired by EMC), the largest software company created in the past 12 years and the largest venture-backed outcome in 2003. Prior to Azure, Mike Kwatinetz was one of the country’s highest ranked analysts and served as Group Head of Technology Research, a Managing Director and the senior software and hardware analyst at several major investment banks, including Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank Securities, and PaineWebber.

Prospect Park is a media and production company founded in 2009 by entertainment industry veterans Jeffrey Kwatinetz and former Disney Studios head Rich Frank. Along with successful film and music divisions, the company’s television group has numerous shows in development and breakout network hits airing including Royal Pains and Wilfred.”

Yes, very true, for as much as we all love “One Life To Live” we need the original actors who have alway made the show what it is, too stop looking for other projects, and Propect Park needs to get them all signed and remain with the show. I think that in all this great news, this is the one thing that is truly the most important thing for our beloved show.

Could anyone even imagine the show without Vicki, Dorian, Clint, Nora, Blair , Tea, Todd(s), need i go on, and sorry to all the wonderful cast not yet named.

Prospect Park:I found out during the night that you have pulled the plug on OLTL and AMC. What kind of Thanksgiving to you think that 2 crews and technicians are going to have? Also hundreds of fans whose hope you built up only to pull the rug out from under them. I don’t know what kind of game you are playing but I am not buying. I will not watch anything that your organization puts out nor will I ever go to your website again. You are an embarrassment to the soap community and I am sorry for the people who put their hope in you. They say that when you put your hopes in people you are bound to be disappointed, and that we are. I hope you are happy because during this rough economy you have sentenced to hundreds of people without jobs. I pray God helps them find jobs in their fields and they are not without for long. Kathy Eselhorst

I believe that Prospect Park has every intention of trying to put the 2 soaps on the internet. If you really want to know what there chances of success are look at Jacob Young’s comments on wny he chose to go back to B&B.

Too many naysayers! There is so much going on behind the scenes that we are unaware of. I fear the lost of actors as much as everyone else. However, I am sure that PP understands that the shows will not be successful without as many of the current cast members as possible and are working to make good things happen. We need to stop all the negativity and show some support. Stop looking at the glass half empty. It was just a month ago the shows were canceled and now they are not. Online is my my top choice for seeing these shows but it is better than nothing. It also appears to not be PP’s top or only choice for the shows either as they have been talking to several networks. They understand that not not everyone has internet. They do not want this to fail anymore than we do. Patience people. PP appears to know what they are doing.

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